I have two full days off, nothing do, and I"m bored. Therefore, you shall receive content. [RobertPlantVoice]Does anybody remember content?[/RobertPlantVoice]

Rankings are fun! Let's rank the debut singles of Hello! Project acts. An off-shoot from my First 5 Plus 1 thread, which was spurred by listening to first five singles all of the groups. I'm including soloists here. The only criteria is that it must be a permanent act that lasted a full calendar year and released at least four singles. That's pretty generous, and yet GAM still misses the cut by having released only three singles.

I'll add commentary for the Top 10. Here we go!

1. Aya Matsuura - "Dokki Doki! LOVE Mail"

A perfect storm of a great songwriter at his peak and a hungry idol-savant that would have topped my list even with a crap B-side, but "Machiawase" is gorgeous.

2. W - "Koi no Vacance"

Yeah, yeah, it's a cover, but it suits TsujiKago perfectly, and the instrumental arrangement and performance manage to modernize the song while retaining all of the charm of the original. The B-sides go full retro, but the girls pull it off with ease.

3. Juice=Juice - "Romance no Tochuu"

I knew this would place high, but even I was surprised that it checked in at 3. Prime H!P funk doesn't get much better than this. Awesome groove, great vocal performance, and just enough surprises to distinguish it among H!P funk royalty. Including Memorial Edits of their indies singles as B-sides is kinda lazy, but they're both great.

4. Kobushi Factory - "Dosukoi! Kenkyo ni Daitan"

This one floored me when it was released. There's an idol-rock formula that's fairly easy to pull off for lazy songwriters and arrangers, and it's usually enough to pull me in. This ain't that. The tribal drums, Japanese melodies and thick harmonies on the unbelievably catch chorus put "Dosukoi!..." in a league of it's own. Add DANCE☆MAN's funk-rock reading of "Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta" and this deserves its Top 5 position.

5. Buono! - "Honto no Jibun"

Probably one of Buono's weaker A-sides, tbh, "Honto..." is not quite formulaic, but it's definitely on the conventional side of idol-rock. It's still quite good, but what elevates this singe to Top 5 is the wonderful "Kokoro no Tamago". That indefatigable funky rhythm guitar and the intro part that returns near the end make me smile every damn time.

6. Tsubaki Factory - "Hatsukoi Sunrise"

It's been two-and-a-half years since this dropped, so I'm safe in saying that the surprise of this single not sucking balls is not skewing my opinion here. These are three very good songs. "Sunrise" was one of the best conventional idol tracks in years from a company that hadn't had a truly conventional idol group since S/mileage became Angerme. "Just Try" does Morning Musume 'XX better than Morning Musume 'XX, and "Uruwashi no Camellia" is pure joy.

7. Melon Kinenbi - "Amai Anata no Aji"

Like the entry that follows, this mature, moody idol-pop shows why Tsunku was one of the great idol songwriters: he set out to write great pop songs and gave them to idols to sing, as opposed to setting out to write idol songs. MKB was talented enough not to need to be "written down to," though, and the strong half-time beat adds all kinds of tension and room for the synths and percussive elements to provide the 16-beat feel that Tsunku demands. The B-side "Skip!" breaks the tie with...

8. Tanpopo - "Last Kiss"

The changes from minor to major and back throughout this track work so well, creating interesting mood shifts for the listener, and elevating an already gorgeous melody. The B-side "Jikan yo Tomare" shows Tsunku getting a bit too indulgent and trying a bit too hard, but "Last Kiss" is undeniable.

9. Miki Fujimoto - "Aenai Nagai Nichiyoubi"

Another debut that would be eclipsed by subsequent offerings, this is also another example of a symbiosis between a great songwriter and a great singer . TBH, Tsunku probably shit this gem out during a lunch break, such was the roll he was on in 2002.

10. Maki Goto - "Ai no Bakayarou"

In hindsight, Goto was probably not quite ready for her solo debut, but I can't blame the company for striking while the iron was hot, and this was almost a perfect song for her debut with. The mysterious vibe fit her personality perfectly, and even if she was still raw as a singer, everything came together to create a very strong debut single.

You sure have raised the bar with that opening post... good thing it's the weekend now so I can actually put some thought into this.
One thing first: Until like, 2013-ish I didn't care for most groups outside of MM and Ayaya as well as Maeda Yuki. That's when I just got interested in S/mileage, that's when Juice=Juice was formed. It also means that I missed lots of debuts. Maybe these songs sounded great when they were released but... I realised that a lot of them really don't have that much of a punch. I actually prefer lots of recent debuts.

1. W - "Koi no Vacance"

One of the few exceptions. I love everything about this song, the MV, even the original - and listen to it on a regular basis. Great debut!

3. Juice=Juice - "Romance no Tochuu"

Can't go wrong with the typical H!P disco-funk-jazz sound. Only negative point is that it becomes a bit repetitive.

3. Aya Matsuura - "Dokki Doki! LOVE Mail"

Another older one, but Ayaya's charme here is amazing. It's cute, without being the sugary-idol-cute.

4. Angerme - "Taiki Bansei"

See Juice. This is pretty much the type of song you need to hype a group.

5. Kobushi Factory - "Dosukoi! Kenkyo ni Daitan"

...or something like this. Back when Kobushi was still a fist in your face. Powerful.

6. S/mileage - "Yumemiru Fifteen"

A classic. Probably wouldn't have thought of it like that back in the day but nowadays it's actually one of my favourite S/mileage songs. The dance is catchy, too.

7. Country Girls - "Itooshikutte Gomen ne

Like a hand in a glove. The cheeky tongue-in-mouth mood of this one was great for CG's debut. Oh, what could have been...

8. Tsubaki Factory - "Hatsukoi Sunrise"

Tsubaki's indies? Shit. This one? Bam. It was the first Tsubaki song I liked.

9. Minimoni - "Minimoni Jankenpyon!"

It's a bit like Country Girls: You get what you expect. Fits the mood of the group really well.

10. Tanpopo - "Last Kiss"

Another classic. There's quite a lot of emotion in this, and few groups other than Tanpopo can deliver it.

11. Heike Michiyo - "GET"

Might not be the greatest song ever, but it... got me. Heh. Love the desperate "Suki da tte".

12. Morning Musume - "Morning Coffee"

Sometimes I wonder if I just got used to it. But then again the harmonies are also quite nice.

13. Pucchi Moni - "Chokotto Love"

Can't be compared to Baby Koi ni Knock out, but still a nice, catchy song.

14. C-ute - "Sakura Chirari"

It's cute, what it says on the tin. Fits the little girls.

15. Berryz Koubou - "Anata Nashide wa Ikite Yukenai"

I think back in the day it was still a bit too big for Berryz - it was cool, but nobody really wanted try-hard kids acting cool. That alone makes it really interesting, though.